Mithuna Couple, after Ajanta
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This study of a royal couple is styled after loving couples (mithuna) depicted in courtly scenes in the murals at the Buddhist rock-cut caves of Ajanta, in western India. Here Srimati consciously celebrated that great legacy of sixth-century Indian painting. Contemporary literary sources tell us that the palaces and grand houses of the era were adorned in a similar manner, but it is the murals that survive at Ajanta that best demonstrate the mastery of painting in early India.
Artwork Details
- Title: Mithuna Couple, after Ajanta
- Artist: Y. G. Srimati (Indian, 1926–2007)
- Date: ca. 1950–52
- Culture: India (Chennai)
- Medium: Watercolor on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 12 5/8 × 12 3/4 in. (32.1 × 32.4 cm)
Mat: 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Lent by Michael Pellettieri
- Rights and Reproduction: © M. Pellettieri
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art